Are you facing tightening travel budgets but find it impossible to appreciably reduce travel due to business demands? Do you have employees that work from home and need a good alternative to commuting for face-time? Web conferencing may be the right solution for you, a great substitute for travel and commuting. Gone are the days when you had to buy expensive equipment for video conferencing and yet settle for hazy picture and unsettling time lag in voice. Conferencing technology has made great strides in the past few years. It provides greater capabilities, range and flexibility. Now every computer turns into conferencing equipment with the click of a mouse. It is a cost effective alternative to travel. It also improves your productivity by saving on the travel time.

Web conferencing, also called Web Video conferencing uses the internet as a conferencing medium. It enables meetings among multiple participants. It also allows one-way live or recorded broadcast of information, often accompanied by extensive use multimedia including charts, audio and video. Additionally, web conferencing may be between selected audiences or it could be open to public where anyone can join at will.

What are some of the uses of Web Conferencing?

Web conferencing solutions can be used to facilitate meetings among groups in multiple locations or to convey detailed information across to any part of the world. Here are some examples:

* Deliver sales presentation to single or multiple locations

* Conduct training sessions, live or recorded.

* Quarterly reporting of financial results to shareholders, analysts or directors

* Briefings or staff meetings between managers or staff members.

* Enable collaboration between team members or colleagues physically separated by a few miles or several time zones.

What are the benefits of Web Conferencing?

It provides several short-term and long-term benefits depending on the type of usage.

* It connects people who may be too busy for face-to-face meetings or separated by large distances.

* It is easier to arrange a meeting over web conference than in-person with a high level executive or professional who cannot afford travel time and would like to meet from the comfort of her office.

* Executives can reach out to multiple locations at the same time, say for an all hands meeting, an impossible task to accomplish otherwise.

* You can avoid setting up multiple meetings to present the same material over and over to decision makers that are spread out to several locations. Just do one web conference that everyone can join at the same time!

* And if someone misses the presentation, he or she can view a recorded version at leisure. Access would be as easy as visiting a website.

* These solutions can lead to drastic reductions in travel costs and make the money available for higher priority tasks.

* In addition to saving time, web conferencing also saves employee time that is otherwise spent in traveling. This time can be used for doing valuable company work, thus, increasing company output.

* Web conferencing is a perfect solution for those who work from home. Demand for at-home workers is growing. Businesses are able to save on real estate costs and other office expenses while they get qualified personnel that are unable to move close to the office.

Choosing a Provider for Web Conferencing

Here are six critical attributes that should be considered while looking for a web conferencing services provider:

1. Live support: Especially critical when you have audiences from multiple organizations.

2. Billing arrangements: inquire about various plans. If your usage is low, go in for per minute charge. If the usage is high then a flat rate per user billing makes more sense.

3. Multimedia Integration: A presentation or a training session without charts and video is going to be insipid. Make sure support for multimedia is included.

4. Recording and Playback: Very critical if you want to allow repeated playback of a presentation.

5. Tracking and reporting: Want to catch those slackers! Ask for tracking and reporting information about attendees.

6. Security: Keep the unwanted participants out. Ask for password enabled conferencing sessions.

Web conferencing opens the door to effective cost allocation, enhanced productivity, and better return-on-investment. The right provider can ensure that you make the best use of web conferencing solutions.

How much does it cost to get Web Conferencing?

Pricing depends on the level of service and your usage level. Before you hire a vendor, compare price quotes from multiple Web Conferencing vendors at a B2B Marketplace like TradeSeam.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Daljeet_Sidhu

A conference call is one form of telecommunications whereby two or more people conduct a meeting over the phone and talk about matters or issues of importance to their group. Another type of communication uses computers and the Internet. This is called a web conference call, and interaction with a group of people can include Powerpoint and Whiteboard presentations, as well as mass sharing of documents.

A web conference call enables people to hear and see each other via audio and chat formats with the use of webcams. Web conferencing services oftentimes include desktop sharing, video conferencing, and even remote control.

Web conferencing technology originated from basic audio conferencing calls, which are still used even today, particularly for presentations, trainings, and business conferences. These audio conference calls can be recorded as audio files, and distributed for various purposes.

With the advent of broadband, live video conferencing emerged, enabling participants to view and hear each other at once. This developed into the more advanced web conferencing, which incorporated multi-layering of information. In a web conference call, the participants could view and hear each other, as well as exchange or share various files, such as presentations, graphics, or drawings rendered on a tablet board called a Whiteboard. They could even post various comments on these shared files.

Web conferencing calls have taken business communication further by enabling board meetings to take place via this medium. In some cases, a call to vote on a motion or poll is undertaken over web conference calls. This makes web conferencing a more practical and efficient alternative to physical meetings, which may involve the expense of time and travel to set up. It is advantageous to many local and international businesses, as well as for government entities. It is an expedient way to save time, money, and inconvenience whenever a group of people need to meet and discuss important issues at the soonest possible opportunity.




Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Takuya_Hikichi

Today there is a form of shared software that businesses can use known as "video conference software" or "groupware". These software programs allow people through their computers to communicate with each other from various locations around the world through use of video and audio. So it allows meetings to take place at times that are convenient to those involved without the need for them to travel to a specific location in order to hold it.

Along with cutting down the cost of travel expenses, it also allows time to be cut down when important and fast decisions need to be made. No longer do these meetings require that those required in any decision making need to be in the same room instead they can be carried out from anywhere in the world. All the participants must have is a good internet connection and the right equipment.

For those who run a small business and don't want to have to waste money obtaining licences for software there are plenty of free downloadable video conference software programs available. One such one worth considering is Microsoft's NetMeeting and offers a satisfactory video conference service.

In order to use this particular application from Microsoft requires you to visit their official website in order to download it. As you do you will be amazed at the kinds of features that come as standard with what is a completely free software program and which some others may require you to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for.

The great thing about this program and many others on the market today is that they allow you to share and exchange files with those who happen to be participating in the conferences you hold. Not only does this mean that those involved are kept up to speed with what is happening but are able to make more informed decisions as to what is right for the business. Therefore if a decision needs to be made quickly this can be achieved in real time rather than waiting for responses for emails sent days or weeks ago.

It is important that if you do intend to use any kind of video conference software in your business these days that all those who will be participating have the same one. If not then the chances of you being able to hold these meetings will be somewhat restricted. But along with ensuring that everyone has the same software installed it is important that their internet access is good and that they have a good broadband connection.

When it comes to the installation of any type of video conference software including the kind we mention above you will need to have a very high bandwidth internet connection to run. If you don't then the quality of the video and audio playing as you talk will be badly affected. In many cases you will find that the video tends to be somewhat jumpy and the sound quality can drop in and out.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tom_Cruz

The use of video conferencing services in business is increasing. There has been a large upsurge especially after the trend of outsourcing business processes started. They have been used avidly to conduct long distance meetings, long distance training programs and to communicate with offshore clients. With passing time, the cost of video conferencing services has been decreasing and at the same time the technology used in video conference has been improving. As a result, the practice of conferencing using video aids is increasing. Though the usage of video conference is simple and generally casual, there is a certain level decorum that has to be maintained in video conferencing especially in a business scenario. Here are some tips for video conference call etiquette-

* Choose a suitable place to hold the conference and make sure all the participants are present at the location on time. Do not begin the conference tell all participants assemble.
* Check the devices a day prior to the conference. If the devices are not in working conditions, you can either replace them with good ones or reschedule the meeting.
* It is a good idea to appoint a person to preside over the conference so that he/she makes sure it goes on smoothly. This way, you can avoid instances where two or more people are talking at a time and the like.
* Do not dress very casually for a video conference meeting. Dress as you would for a face-to face meeting.
* When you start participating in the meeting and it is your turn to speak up, don't forget to introduce yourself.
* Use mute button on the remote control when another person is talking.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Vikas_S